Benefits of Membership

Your interest in HVI is appreciated and we hope you will decide to invest in HVI's programs and services.

HVI is a nonprofit trade association comprised of many of the world's leading manufacturers of residential ventilating products. HVI supports its members through a variety of market-oriented services, with emphasis on engineering standards, technical applications and product performance tests. The HVI-Certified Ratings Programs are often considered to be its most important services. Engineers, specifiers, builders, code officials, government agencies and consumers rely on our Certified Products Directory for dependable, accurate performance information. The directory is updated monthly and can be found at www.hvicertified.org.

HVI's Certified Ratings Programs are widely recognized and respected throughout North America. Obtaining HVI Certification for your products is often a prerequisite for complying with codes (e.g., ASHRAE 62.2) or earning the ENERGY STAR® qualification.

Manufacturers are not required to become members of HVI in order to participate in the Certified Ratings Programs, however, nearly all manufacturers find it is the most cost-effective approach to obtaining product certification. Also, membership provides the opportunity to participate in the development and maintenance of the programs. Alternatively, manufacturers may enter into a Non-member Certification Agreement with HVI and pay prescribed fees for participation in the Certified Ratings Program.

For information on how to join HVI, click here.

Benefits of Membership

There are many benefits to becoming an HVI member, many of which are a direct result of our esteemed Certified Ratings Programs (CRP) which levels the playing field for participants and provides important product performance assurances for consumers. The HVI-Certified label on your product indicates to consumers that your product performs as advertised. There is no better program in the world for certification, verification and challenge of standardized, off-the-shelf residential ventilation products.

HVI members develop common industry positions on government, NAHB and building code issues. Testing procedures are reviewed and revised on a regular basis. HVI members also participate in marketing programs that increase awareness of the benefits of home ventilation to consumers and the trade industry.

We surveyed the membership to find out why our newest members decided to join and why our long-time members choose to remain involved. Here are some of the comments we received:

New members' testimonials:

• "We believe in the mission of HVI which we take to be to improve people's lives by having better ventilation systems in their homes, systems that truly perform as they are expected to perform."
• "Because the ventilation applications have so many variables, we wanted third party testing to ensure our clients that they can trust the published figures to be consistent with their expectations. Too often in our industry, published information does not necessarily meet the actual performance results."
• "Our commercial and retail accounts told us that we must be HVI certified before they would buy our products. We also view HVI as a stepping stone to help get our company exposure in the market so we can better compete commercially and at retail. Last, all of our competitors were already listed, and we definitely did not want to be the left out."

Long-time members' testimonials:

• "Membership in HVI provides a seal of credibility that assures customers and specifying engineers that we have a quality product that works as we claim. HVI certification provides our sales people an important fact that makes them more confident and helps our customers feel good about choosing our products."
• "HVI provides a forum where the membership can accomplish certain objectives that we could not accomplish alone. For example, dryer booster fans would have been banned by building codes for no reason aside from paranoia. Members banded together and provided strong technical evidence that corrected the mistaken opinion and showed the benefit of dryer booster fans so well that they may be required in certain situations."
• "HVI certification is a prerequisite for ENERGY STAR listings."
• "Active participation in the various committees has helped our company stay on the leading edge of both technological developments and market trends. We are kept informed about key regulatory changes in both the US and Canada. We are aware of important safety issues and trends."
• "We have remained a member of the organization because we, as a company, value the credibility that HVI Certification gives our products. We also value HVI's continued efforts to educate builders, consumers and installers on the essential part ventilation plays in providing better indoor air quality in the buildings where we all work and live."
• "We continue to be active in HVI to ensure the organization is unbiased towards product types and try to make sure the certification and verification programs are internally effective and requested by specifying agencies."
• "We value the opportunity to establish business and personal relationships with all the key players in our industry."
• "HVI provides us with a formal means to challenge and verify another manufacturer's product specifications."